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At TechCentralStation, Adam Thierer asks: "What Ever Happened to the Big Media Bogeyman?"
He concludes:
The real danger here in not just that asymmetrical FCC regulations will doom old media players to an early extinction, it is that -- in the name of fairness and "leveling the playing field" -- the old rules gradually come to incorporate new media outlets and technologies as well. The current debate about the applicability of campaign finance regulations to the Internet and blogs in particular foreshadows many other debates to come about media policy for the Age of Information Abundance. Do we need children's programming mandates for IPTV (Internet protocol television) operators? How about indecency regulations for satellite radio and cell phones? Should politicians get free airtime for ads and debates on all these new digital outlets? And so on.
Of course, in the Age of Information Abundance, why do we really need any of these rules anyway? The question of who owns what or how much they own is irrelevant in a world of information overload. In such an environment, it is fundamentally unfair to impose asymmetrical regulations and ownership controls on one class of information providers while leaving others completely free to arrange their affairs -- and, by extension, their speech -- as they wish. Adam's new book Media Myths: Making Sense of the Debate Over Media Ownership is now available in fine bookstores everyone, and a downloadable version is available under a Creative Commons license. For a precis, go here.
posted by James DeLong @ 8:04 AM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation
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